


I'll Make It Up To You

by sergeantwinter



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter/Funhaus RPF
Genre: Christmas, Fake AH Crew, Heist, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-12 04:56:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,155
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9056257
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sergeantwinter/pseuds/sergeantwinter
Summary: After learning that Ryan has never celebrated Christmas with family, Jeremy vows to give him the Christmas he has always dreamed of.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for the rtsecretsanta2016 on tumblr!!

Geoff raised his glass of champagne, signalling that he was about to begin his speech; the rest of the crew fell silent.

“This has been a great year for the Fake AH Crew,” he declared, standing up from his seat at the head of the table. It was the crew’s annual thanksgiving dinner, a time to celebrate the success of the previous year, but also a time to set out the agenda for the remaining month. Both Ryan and Jeremy were attending for the first year, and were sitting across from each other on either side of Geoff.

“A truly great year. I know they’ve been here for a while now, but I’d like to formally welcome Ryan and Jeremy to the crew.” Geoff tipped his glass in their direction and smiled. “You're all my family, and I love you.” He paused. “But first and foremost the Fake AH Crew is a business, and like any other business, this is going to be our busiest time of year.

“As our crew has grown so have our heists, and I want the final heist of their year to be the most extravagant crime the Los Santos police department has ever seen. I haven’t worked out all the details yet but the heist will go down on Christmas Day, which means we won’t be celebrating this year. Every ounce of our time and energy must go into this heist if we’re going to pull it off. Do you guys understand?”

Jeremy nodded along with everyone else, but he noticed that Ryan’s face had fallen.

Geoff downed his glass and took his seat again. “I’m done. Let’s eat!” The table burst into chatter, and as Jeremy turned his attention to the conversation he made a mental note to find out what was wrong with Ryan.

The opportunity came when Ryan and Jeremy were made to clear the table, being the newest recruits and all. Ryan was a man of few words, so Jeremy had to be tactical in drawing out the information he wanted.

“Man, it sucks that we’re not having Christmas this year.” Ryan hummed noncommittally in response, offering nothing. Jeremy frowned. “Christmas in Boston was pretty good, we always had snow…” Ryan still didn’t reply, but his grip on the glass he was holding had tightened; he must have sensed where Jeremy was trying to steer the conversation. Jeremy pushed forward. “What was Christmas like when you were a kid, Ryan?”

The glass burst in Ryan’s hand, splintering outward; he opened his hand and the let the remaining glass fall to the floor.

“Holy shit, Ryan! Are you okay?” Jeremy grabbed Ryan’s hand to check if he had cut himself. Thankfully he hadn't, but Jeremy didn’t let go; he looked up into Ryan’s face, searching for an answer. His heart began to beat a little faster, whether from the adrenaline or something else, he didn’t know. Ryan stared down at his intertwined with Jeremy’s, purposely avoiding Jeremy’s face.

“Hey,” Jeremy said softly. “Sorry if I pushed.”

Ryan sighed. “No, it’s just… I was looking forward to spending Christmas with family this year. It’s not a big deal.” His tone was carefully emotionless, as was his expression; he seemed to be looking right through their hands. Ryan pushed the glass on the floor around with the toe of his shoe. “Can you finish up here?” He looked like he was going to say more but cut himself short. Jeremy nodded, squeezing Ryan's hand as Ryan pulled away from his grip and left the room.

Jeremy knelt down and began to pick up some of the larger pieces of glass, but a few seconds later he stilled, lost in thought. Since joining the crew Ryan had been pretty reserved, offering little information about himself, preferring to observe rather than participate. They’d known each other for a year and Jeremy barely knew anything about him. Why was he so reluctant to open up?

Geoff appeared in the doorway, interrupting Jeremy’s train of thought; he looked down at the mess on the floor but didn’t question it, which Jeremy was thankful for. “I've pushed tomorrow’s meeting forward an hour: I want to get started on this heist as soon as possible. Make sure you get a good night’s rest.”

“Will do, Geoff.” Jeremy replied. As Geoff turned to leave Jeremy spoke again. “Hey, did Ryan say anything about visiting his family this year?”

Geoff shook his head. “Guy doesn’t have any family. He was orphaned when he was, like, five.” With that, he left Jeremy alone with his thoughts again.

 _That’s why he freaked out when I asked him about his childhood,_ Jeremy thought. _It must have been a traumatic time for him._ Jeremy felt determined to act on this information: he was going to make sure that Ryan got the Christmas he had always wanted. 

*

A few weeks later, preparation for the heist was nearing completion. Whilst dealing with weapons deliveries, scoping out locations and strategizing exit routes, Jeremy had also been planning a heist of his own. It had been difficult to figure out the details on his own, but Jeremy loved a challenge. He hadn't told any of the main crew about his plan (he wanted this to be as much a surprise for them as for Ryan), but he had asked the support team to help him, convincing Geoff that they could always use back-up on the heist – they could cover the exits.

In actuality, the support team would take over Jeremy’s role towards the end of the heist, when he would depart from the group to complete his own. The grand heist was going down in the Maze Bank – the crew were going to steal money, as usual, but Jeremy had something more special in mind. Jeremy was only providing cover fire at the end of the heist, so he wouldn’t be missed.

During the planning meetings, Ryan seemed back to his usual self: quiet and somewhat menacing, strictly business. There was no awkwardness when he spoke to Jeremy, no change in his demeanour at all – it was as though the glass incident hadn't happened at all. Despite this, Jeremy couldn’t help but see Ryan differently – he didn’t pity him, but was rather in awe of him. Ryan obviously didn’t let this hold him back, and if not for Geoff, Jeremy would never have guessed that Ryan was so alone. Ryan obviously felt that this was a burden that he had to carry alone, or else he felt that he couldn’t trust the crew with this part of himself.

Jeremy hoped he could change that.

*

On Christmas Eve, Jeremy went to bed with his stomach in knots. He'd never been nervous on a heist, not even his first, but this one was different. Usually the crew only worried about themselves during a heist – if they worried about each other they would be distracted – but if he messed this up he could risk the safety of the crew, and he wouldn’t be able to make Ryan happy.

The next morning, Jeremy woke earlier than necessary to ensure that everything was in place for his own excursion, then set about preparing for the main heist. The rest of the crew join him steadily over the next hour; they were ready to leave by the time Ryan and Geoff appeared last, talking in hushed voices to each other. Jeremy caught Ryan’s eye and smiled at him reassuringly, more for his own benefit than Ryan’s. Ryan clapped him on the shoulder as he passed on his way to collect his weapon. They would be travelling to the location together. As Jeremy mounted Ryan’s bike he felt his stomach finally settle. Ryan joined him a moment later, gun slung over his side, and kicked the bike into action.

Jeremy’s mind was peacefully blank as they rode through the city, the wind whipping at Jeremys face despite the broad protection of Ryan’s back, but the journey was short. Ryan and Jeremy pulled up outside the bank just as Michael launched a rocket at the door. Moments later sirens could be heard in the distance; _they must have been expecting something from us._

Their excitement was tangible as the crew charged into the building. The main six headed for the stairs that led to the vaults whilst the support crew were stationed outside the bank, poised to receive the first wave of cops as the sirens grew closer.

As the main crew moved through the levels of the building, Jeremy and Ryan made sure to stay one floor lower than the other four: more and more cops were breaching the support team’s barricade, racing up the flights of stairs only to be shot down by the pair.

“Ryan, you go help them out front: we want a smooth exit and that’s not going to possible if we leave a trail of dead bodies on all the staircases. I’ll go help cover the back exit.” Ryan nodded eagerly, taking the steps two at a time as he descended towards the bank’s entrance. With Ryan covering the entrance Jeremy was confident that no more police would be able to enter the building, so he holstered his gun and began to descend the stairs himself, heading towards the giant tree on the first floor. All he had to do was drag the tree to the emergency exit at the back of the bank, where Trevor was waiting with an armoured truck. Jeremy had never seen a tree so densely decorated in all his life; he would probably break a few ornaments along the way but he doubted that they would be missed.

Jeremy decided to lay the tree on its side and drag it through the bank; as he suspected, baubles went bouncing in all directions as he pulled the tree down the last flight of stairs. When he eventually made it outside, he and Trevor secured the tree to the top of the truck. Surprisingly no officers had come to the back of the bank to check for another entrance, but since it was Christmas Day Jeremy guessed that the police department had decided to take a day off from being smart. Just to be safe, Trevor drove them back to the house through side streets and back alleys. As they drove away from the city, Jeremy could see red and gold fireworks erupting from the top of the Maze Bank in his wing mirror. The crew had managed to break into every vault in the bank.

Once they arrived back at the house, the next part of Jeremy’s plan was easy. They didn’t have to wait long for the crew to return; Jeremy moved to stand closer to the front door as soon as he heard tires screech on the gravel outside. Geoff was red-faced as he burst through the door, closely followed by Jack; he headed straight for the liquor cabinet and didn’t appear to notice anything different about the house.

“Don’t you dare pull that shit ever again, Jeremy,” he fumed. “We had no idea where the fuck you’d gone, you could have screwed up the whole heist –”

He was interrupted by giddy squeals from Michael and Gavin. The adrenaline from the heist evidently hadn't worn off yet, and this was only amplified by the sight of the fruits of Jeremy’s labour. The support crew followed close behind.

Ryan was last through the door. He was covered in blood and wore a weary expression, but this quickly changed to one of awe as he saw the decorations. He was paralysed by surprise for a few moments, eventually turning to look at Jeremy in wonder. A grin split across Jeremy’s face. “Merry Christmas, Ryan.” Without hesitation Ryan swept Jeremy clean off the ground, wrapping him in a hug so tight that Jeremy almost couldn’t breathe. Jeremy wrapped his arms and legs around Ryan and buried his face in Ryan’s neck. The hug seemed to last forever, as though Ryan was trying to make up for all the hugs he had missed out on over his lifetime.

Eventually Ryan put Jeremy back on the ground but kept him pulled close to his side. “Wow,” he breathed, innocent disbelief colouring his voice. “This is all I've ever wanted.”

Jeremy had been surreptitiously collecting decorations since thanksgiving, and once they’d arrived back at the house Trevor had helped him to cover the main room in wreaths, tinsel and fairy lights – the walls were barely visible under it all. The rest of the crew were spaced around the room, smiling at Jeremy and Ryan or admiring the decorations. Michael and Gavin were stood by the tree, craning their necks up to take it all in – the tree was so tall that the top curled downwards across the ceiling, but Jeremy didn’t mind. It wasn’t perfect, but it was still beautiful, just like the crew. His family.


End file.
